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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
Source: Received an e-ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Part of the reason I picked this book to read was Meg Cabot's endorsement although I have been led astray by similar endorsements. The other part is just the amazing sounding summary with three dresses changing the life of one young girl in unbelievable ways including an introduction to the charming Prince Gregory, heir to the British throne.
Long-time readers might be surprised by the specifics of what my favorite part was although the fact that I found it hilarious obviously explains why it was my favorite. What part was it? Well, it is Becky's best friend Rocher's inventively clever cursing. Yes, I said cursing as in profanity. I have never read such clever language and it really made me think of it as an art form almost. The unusual ways she phrased her thoughts (and the fact that it wasn't on every page) really pleased me.
I also really liked the way I was unable to predict all of the plot twists. Now I maybe should have been able to figure some things out but I didn't and instead just got to enjoy and gasp at some of the shifts. The ending sentence was also fantastic-something to refer back to when you remember how much high school sucked and how much better your life is now (at least that is my experience.)
My main complaint is a bit of a SPOILER so don't read if you want to preserve the mystery.
That reason is the way that Tom is dead (?) or holographic...I don't really know and I would have liked it more straightforward and explained. I don't understand how any of that worked and it left me frustrated rather than just being able to swallow what was offered.
Cover: Gorgeous ;) Love the red dress although I think it would have been interesting to see the red, white, and black dresses.
Part of the reason I picked this book to read was Meg Cabot's endorsement although I have been led astray by similar endorsements. The other part is just the amazing sounding summary with three dresses changing the life of one young girl in unbelievable ways including an introduction to the charming Prince Gregory, heir to the British throne.
Long-time readers might be surprised by the specifics of what my favorite part was although the fact that I found it hilarious obviously explains why it was my favorite. What part was it? Well, it is Becky's best friend Rocher's inventively clever cursing. Yes, I said cursing as in profanity. I have never read such clever language and it really made me think of it as an art form almost. The unusual ways she phrased her thoughts (and the fact that it wasn't on every page) really pleased me.
I also really liked the way I was unable to predict all of the plot twists. Now I maybe should have been able to figure some things out but I didn't and instead just got to enjoy and gasp at some of the shifts. The ending sentence was also fantastic-something to refer back to when you remember how much high school sucked and how much better your life is now (at least that is my experience.)
My main complaint is a bit of a SPOILER so don't read if you want to preserve the mystery.
That reason is the way that Tom is dead (?) or holographic...I don't really know and I would have liked it more straightforward and explained. I don't understand how any of that worked and it left me frustrated rather than just being able to swallow what was offered.
Cover: Gorgeous ;) Love the red dress although I think it would have been interesting to see the red, white, and black dresses.
I’ll be honest: When I first heard about Gorgeous, I was quite skeptical about the chances that I’d actually like it. I mean — magical dresses? The fashion world? Um, no.
Fortunately, I decided to check it out anyway, and to see for myself what all the buzz was about. And I’m happy that I did. Gorgeous is a modern-day fairy tale about inner beauty, the traps that fame can bring, and finding out who you are and what you want. It’s sweet and funny all at the same time, and never drags for a second.
Highly recommended, for teens and adults. See my full review at http://bookshelffantasies.com/2013/07/20/book-review-gorgeous/.
Fortunately, I decided to check it out anyway, and to see for myself what all the buzz was about. And I’m happy that I did. Gorgeous is a modern-day fairy tale about inner beauty, the traps that fame can bring, and finding out who you are and what you want. It’s sweet and funny all at the same time, and never drags for a second.
Highly recommended, for teens and adults. See my full review at http://bookshelffantasies.com/2013/07/20/book-review-gorgeous/.
Originally posted at yAdult Review
This book was never on my radar, which is actually really weird to say. Between various internet websites, listservs, being at my library, my used book store, working at a library, it is hard to say that this book wasn’t on my radar. But it wasn’t, and then I went to the ALA YALSA breakfast and I met Paul Rudnick. His passionate speech about his book put it on my radar. I quickly wrote down his name and this book and couldn’t wait to read it. And then I read my friends reviews and I found out that this book fell into two camps: you love it/you hate it.
I am pretty firmly in camp love. Adore. Becky’s narration is spot on epic and it isn’t typical YA narration. She is snarky, she has a mouth on her and she isn’t afraid to use it. I found her to be a completely realistic, particularly for what was going on in her life: something completely UN-realistic. I found her humor to be a lot like mine. It’s quirky. You’re either going to love it or hate it. Much like Becky herself. There were times I wanted to slap her and tell her to figure her shit out and then I remembered being 18. Being 18 is hard enough. Being 18, having your mother just die, and leaving middle of nowhere Missouri for New York City is a change.
At first, Becky is given this red dress, this red dress that doesn’t make her feel different at all. Then she hears the gasps and she looks into the mirror and notices how “beautiful” she is. At that exact moment she decided she is “Rebecca” of course with her inner dialogue we, the reader, knows she is still Becky, not full of the confidence she exudes.
I enjoyed the bits of Becky being Rebecca, because inside she was constant “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON” and that, to me, was extremely realistic. It was stupid to her that people were treating her differently because she didn’t completely get it. And then Jate entered the picture. Jate, the famous movie star who asks her to be part of his picture and to be his girlfriend. Because Jate has a secret of his own. So they work with each other. Through Jate and the magic dress, Becky is able to meet Prince Gregory, the future King of England.
Prince Gregory, who Becky, not Rebecca, starts to fall in love with. It’s hard to tell who Gregory is falling in love with. Is he falling in love with Rebecca, the beautiful girl, or Becky the snarky personality. This of course comes to a pivotal moment in the book, in which Becky figures important things out for herself.
To me, this book worked in part due to the narrator. I am not sure I could have handled reading it because it was that whimsical and silly. But the narrator made it work and I couldn’t wait to get into my car and listen to it to know what was going to happen next. The narrator and of course the characters. From Becky to her BFF Rocher, I loved and adored this book from start to end.
This book was never on my radar, which is actually really weird to say. Between various internet websites, listservs, being at my library, my used book store, working at a library, it is hard to say that this book wasn’t on my radar. But it wasn’t, and then I went to the ALA YALSA breakfast and I met Paul Rudnick. His passionate speech about his book put it on my radar. I quickly wrote down his name and this book and couldn’t wait to read it. And then I read my friends reviews and I found out that this book fell into two camps: you love it/you hate it.
I am pretty firmly in camp love. Adore. Becky’s narration is spot on epic and it isn’t typical YA narration. She is snarky, she has a mouth on her and she isn’t afraid to use it. I found her to be a completely realistic, particularly for what was going on in her life: something completely UN-realistic. I found her humor to be a lot like mine. It’s quirky. You’re either going to love it or hate it. Much like Becky herself. There were times I wanted to slap her and tell her to figure her shit out and then I remembered being 18. Being 18 is hard enough. Being 18, having your mother just die, and leaving middle of nowhere Missouri for New York City is a change.
At first, Becky is given this red dress, this red dress that doesn’t make her feel different at all. Then she hears the gasps and she looks into the mirror and notices how “beautiful” she is. At that exact moment she decided she is “Rebecca” of course with her inner dialogue we, the reader, knows she is still Becky, not full of the confidence she exudes.
I enjoyed the bits of Becky being Rebecca, because inside she was constant “WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON” and that, to me, was extremely realistic. It was stupid to her that people were treating her differently because she didn’t completely get it. And then Jate entered the picture. Jate, the famous movie star who asks her to be part of his picture and to be his girlfriend. Because Jate has a secret of his own. So they work with each other. Through Jate and the magic dress, Becky is able to meet Prince Gregory, the future King of England.
Prince Gregory, who Becky, not Rebecca, starts to fall in love with. It’s hard to tell who Gregory is falling in love with. Is he falling in love with Rebecca, the beautiful girl, or Becky the snarky personality. This of course comes to a pivotal moment in the book, in which Becky figures important things out for herself.
To me, this book worked in part due to the narrator. I am not sure I could have handled reading it because it was that whimsical and silly. But the narrator made it work and I couldn’t wait to get into my car and listen to it to know what was going to happen next. The narrator and of course the characters. From Becky to her BFF Rocher, I loved and adored this book from start to end.
Will be published April 30, 2013, ARC from ALA.
This book was a hot mess!! Terrible dialog, and so overly descriptive is was painful. The premise was cool, but it just didn't work. The 'magic' was never really explained and while it is cool to see a person go from rags to riches, Rebecca/Becky never seemed to learn anything from her experience and it made me wonder why it happened to her in the first place. I wanted this to be funny/clever like Libba Bray's 'Beauty Queens' but it just never came together.
Summary: When Becky Randle's mother dies, she's whisked from her trailer park home to New York. There she meets Tom Kelly, the world's top designer, who presents Becky with an impossible offer: He'll design three dresses to transform the very average Becky into the most beautiful woman who ever lived.
Soon Becky is remade as Rebecca - pure five-alarm hotness to the outside world and an awkward mess of cankles and split ends when she's alone. With Rebecca's remarkable beauty as her passport, soon Becky's life resembles a fairy tale. She stars in a movie, VOGUE calls, and she starts to date Prince Gregory, heir to the English throne. That's when everything crumbles. Because Rebecca aside, Becky loves him. But the idea of a prince looking past Rebecca's blinding beauty to see the real girl inside? There's not enough magic in the world.
This book was a hot mess!! Terrible dialog, and so overly descriptive is was painful. The premise was cool, but it just didn't work. The 'magic' was never really explained and while it is cool to see a person go from rags to riches, Rebecca/Becky never seemed to learn anything from her experience and it made me wonder why it happened to her in the first place. I wanted this to be funny/clever like Libba Bray's 'Beauty Queens' but it just never came together.
Summary: When Becky Randle's mother dies, she's whisked from her trailer park home to New York. There she meets Tom Kelly, the world's top designer, who presents Becky with an impossible offer: He'll design three dresses to transform the very average Becky into the most beautiful woman who ever lived.
Soon Becky is remade as Rebecca - pure five-alarm hotness to the outside world and an awkward mess of cankles and split ends when she's alone. With Rebecca's remarkable beauty as her passport, soon Becky's life resembles a fairy tale. She stars in a movie, VOGUE calls, and she starts to date Prince Gregory, heir to the English throne. That's when everything crumbles. Because Rebecca aside, Becky loves him. But the idea of a prince looking past Rebecca's blinding beauty to see the real girl inside? There's not enough magic in the world.
This was funny. I had a hard time suspending disbelief for most of it though. Eh.
Overall I enjoyed it very much. I initially flat out rejected this book based on the dumb premise. I find any level of focus on celebrity culture, beauty, and fashion is too much...and so tiresome. I did grab it to read a few times for lack of something else (and because, let's face it, the David Sedaris endorsement on the front cover), and ended up falling into it. Don't get me wrong, it is totally absurd and frustrating at times. Although, funny, clever, and very very entertaining won out in the end. Hence the 4 stars!
So I couldn't finish this book. Normally I give books that I can't finish only 1 star but I actually really liked the premise and I'd been really interested when I saw the author speak about it in a webinar...I just couldn't get into it. So since I thought the potential was there and thought the writing was good I rated it up a bit more than I normally would. I might even try picking it up again in the future.
While I love Paul Rudnick's plays, this YA novel falls short of his magic. It's an interesting take on inner vs. outer beauty, but I'm not sure if it's stating anything new.
So I've met the author and I love him but WOW such a bad book. I really wanted to like it too. It's just that it was so predictable and unrelateable, the only redeeming quality was the few moments of comedic relief.
The humor and the social commentary reminds me of Bray's Beauty Queens. I enjoyed this one and experienced a few laugh out loud moments, but I feel like it dragged on at times.
I would rate it 3.5/3.75
I would rate it 3.5/3.75